"With his plan to build new schools and roads stalled, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is
turning his focus to combatting global warming -- a burgeoning political issue that aides and pollsters say could be election-year gold for a governor in need of a major accomplishment."
"But as Schwarzenegger hopes this year to woo moderate Democrats and independents by touting his green credentials, Democratic lawmakers and environmentalists are preparing to force Schwarzenegger to back up his tough rhetoric on greenhouse gases by sending him first-of-its-kind legislation that goes further than anything the governor has so far called for."
"'
I have to say that the federal government has so far fallen short with showing leadership when it comes to the environment,' [Schwarzenegger] said, explaining why California should take the lead on an issue that some business executives say should be addressed in Washington, D.C. 'I think that I, as governor, don't want to wait for the federal government or for any other states, as far as that goes, to see what they're doing.'"
Michael Gardner reports that the state is
already ahead of the curve when it comes to emissions.
"The Republican governor's agenda represents a
sharp split from President Bush, who opposes mandatory regulations on emissions. The Bush administration and others argue that conducting more research and pursuing alternative energy sources are the best ways to address global warming."
"The Democratic-controlled Legislature is moving ahead with several tough proposals. The centerpiece, in
Assembly Bill 32, would force industry to scale back emissions to 1990 levels by 2020."
Speaking of new emissions, the governor is expected to
release a new television ad today, according to campaign sources.
With spring break here, Matier and Ross
look back at the failed bond negotiaions. "The closest lawmakers got to a deal was to rough out an outline for a $30 billion combo "baby bond" to cover education, levee repair and transportation - much smaller than the $40 to $50 billion bond being talked up just a few weeks ago."
"Not that there weren't some interesting moments, such as last Monday when Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata and Speaker
Fabian Núñez -- both of whom have been negotiating with the governor -- were scheduled to stand shoulder to shoulder with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides when he rolled out his own infrastructure plan."
"But when the event came. neither Perata nor Núñez was to be found -- both the victims of sudden scheduling conflicts."
Coincidence? We think not.
Jerry "Brown, who turned 68 on Friday, is
trying once again to propel himself to statewide office. But while he insists he has grown wiser, his other well-known personality traits appear to have changed little," reports Herbert Sample for the Bee.
The article provides a glimpse of the general election campaign strategy should Brown defeat
Rocky Delgadillo in the primary. "'If he does for California what he did for Oakland, we're going to be in very bad shape,'" said
Ken Khachigian, strategist for GOP AG candidate Chuck Poochigian."
"But Brown not only is supremely confident he'll sweep past Delgadillo in June,
he sees little impediment to winning in November as well."
"'I'm running for attorney general in the sixth year of a Republican president (who is) very unpopular,' Brown explained. '
I ran for governor in the sixth year of the Nixon administration that had just become the Ford administration. And my father ran for governor in the sixth year of Eisenhower ... It's good to be running as a Democrat in the low point of an unpopular president of the other party.'"
"Some 18 candidates are
vying to fill [Duke Cunningham's] open congressional seat in a special election Tuesday. The field includes
Francine Busby, a Democrat hoping to parlay the Cunningham debacle into an upset win in the Republican stronghold, and three top GOP contenders, wealthy businessman
Eric Roach, former U.S. Rep.
Brian Bilbray and former state Assemblyman
Howard Kooligian."
While Democratic organizations see Busby's strength and the stumbles of the GOP candidates as an opportunity to take a GOP seat, "Republican candidates and national GOP leaders insist there is no way they'll permit the seat to fall into opposition hands."
"'It's extremely important from a party standpoint that we keep this seat Republican," said former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich, appearing at a La Jolla country club fundraiser for Bilbray. '
To lose this seat would be an enormous blow.'"
"While Busby is ahead in polls for the special election, she is well short of the 50 percent plus one vote needed to win outright. Pollsters - and conventional wisdom - say the top Republican will defeat her in a runoff set for the June 6 California primary."
It's also
election eve in the 35th Senate District, where voters
will go to the polls tomorrow to replace
John Campbell. "Voters will choose among Republicans
Tom Harman, an assemblyman from Huntington Beach, and
Diane Harkey, a Dana Point councilwoman; and Democrat
Larry Caballero, a teacher from La Palma."
If no candidate wins a majority, the top Republican vote-getter will face a runoff with Caballero on June 6. The winner will replace former Sen.
John Campbell (R-Irvine), who was elected in December to Congress."
Meanwhile, a few miles up the coast, the times they are a changin'.
"For a dozen years,
Beverly O'Neill has been the face of Long Beach politics, a mayor so well known that she won her third term as a write-in candidate. O'Neill rallied the port city through tough years, when its shipyards and aerospace plants shrank or closed," write Nancy Wride and Deborah Schoch in the Times.
"Now
the feel-good mayor is stepping down, and five candidates are on the ballot to replace her Tuesday."
"They include a councilman who sells real estate, an ex-councilman and ex-cop who writes detective novels, and the former head of a major utility."
"
Bob Foster, 59, who was president of Southern California Edison until he quit to campaign, had raised $654,205 as of Wednesday, far more than the other candidates."
"His campaign chest and influential endorsements from police and fire unions give Foster front-runner status, along with the second- and third-highest fundraisers, Councilman
Frank Colonna, 62, and ex-Councilman
Doug Drummond, 68, both former vice mayors."
"The other candidates are
Ronnie "Sidestreet" Rephan, 62, a retired Vietnam veteran; and repeat candidate
John Stolpe, 49,
a Long Beach police officer arrested Thursday at Griffith Park on suspicion of exposing himself in public, a misdemeanor for which police said Saturday he has not been formally charged."
And further north, "[t]he
race for the 41st Assembly district features five Democrats, two Republicans and a Libertarian seeking their parties' nominations in the June primary," writes Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.
"The
district is considered a safe Democratic seat, with a 48-29 percent Democratic edge over Republicans in voter registration. The district stretches along the coast from Santa Monica to the west San Fernando Valley and parts of Ventura County." Sheppard profiles the eight candidates running to replace
Fran Pavley.
"
Cathleen Galgiani isn't the incumbent in the
17th Assembly District race, but she might as well be: The Stockton Democrat is collecting PAC money like a sitting lawmaker and has
raised more cash than the two Republicans challenging her combined."
"There's a reason Galgiani has been barreling away at her buck-raking. Not only is she the chief of staff for termed-out Assemblywoman
Barbara Matthews, D-Tracy, but Galgiani worked for
Patrick Johnston and
John Garamendi when they represented San Joaquin County districts in the Legislature before she signed on with Matthews in 2000."
"Those relationships have paid off. A Record analysis of state campaign finance records shows Galgiani has received $119,500 of the $260,500 she has raised from people, businesses or political action committees that also had given to Matthews."
Dan Walters writes "His other attributes and liabilities notwithstanding, Arnold Schwarzenegger deserves much credit for becoming
the only recent California governor to value and promote vocational education - and his timing couldn't be any better."
"For years, a college-oriented educational and political elite - pandering to parents who universally consider their progeny to be budding doctors, lawyers, accountants and engineers - has been consciously dismantling the state's once-exemplary system of job-oriented education."
"In promoting CTE ([career and technical education]), Schwarzenegger is not only pursuing a personal cause, but one that benefits countless kids who would rather work than hit the books, and society as a whole, which needs a steady influx of blue-collar and technical workers to do its real work. Throughout the state, employers are feeling shortages of nurses, carpenters, auto mechanics and other workers, despite a willingness to pay high salaries to attract them."
From our
If You're Going to San Francisco Files, you might want to
check the security at your local wireless Internet hotspot. "A San Francisco finance manager stopped in at a Mission District cafe and was tapping on his laptop as he enjoyed his coffee just before noon on a Thursday. Suddenly, he was under siege.
'I looked up, and I saw this guy leaning into me as if he was asking a question,' he said. 'I leaned forward, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone fiddling with the computer cord. I tried to stand up, and as I stepped back, he stabbed me in the chest.'
"The attack marked a violent turn in a wave of crime that has hit the city -- the 'hot spots' frequented by wireless laptop users are becoming hot spots for laptop robberies."
